space travel

Putin’s SOTN Part VIII – Russia as a Technology Center

Our review of the State of the Nation speech given by President Vladimir Putin draws to a close. The speech was massive, and there remain in fact areas that we still did not cover that are worth reading in the full speech, linked here. However, insofar as Russian technology meets the world stage, this last area, scientific research and development, is extremely visible and important.

Mars has just been brought closer to Earth by Elon Musk

On February 6th, 2018, the US got back into the Space Race in a huge way. The SpaceX Falcon Heavy completed its first test flight, and it did so with a great deal of flair and skillful marketing of space travel, through the use of excellent media coverage, the expression of honest-to-goodness excitement by a company that is freely seeking to conquer the challenge of interplanetary travel and colonization, and a simple and attractive way to show the world what can be done.